Friday, September 9, 2016

Brandon Desjardins

Friday's Fabulous Flyer

Brandon Desjardins

If you want to fly, then you should just do it. Life is too short to not live all your dreams. There will be ups and downs, but if you focus you will get there. Brandon just received his private pilot license, and he offered to share his experience with us, and I'm sure you will feel his excitement and joy as you read his story. Just think, you too could be part of the few, the proud, the people who fly!

Brandon:

"After about 3 years and numerous breaks I finally decided to just put my time and effort into finishing my PPL. I started flying steadily back in April/May and finally received my private pilots license two weeks ago! It feels amazing to be done but more importantly through all the ups and downs that comes with training, I just didn't give up! I wanted this license so bad that I refused to quit, I refused to let anything stop me, and it paid off in the end. I did my training at Harvs Air in St. Andrews which is a small airport just about 10-15 minutes north of Winnipeg Canada. The benefit of this is that it's a controlled airport but small enough where it's not too stressful and you can learn to fly in a controlled zone and feel comfortable.

The checkride, as most pilots know, is broken up into two parts, the ground portion which took about 2 hours and then the flight test which took about 2 hours also. The ground portion went good passed everything smoothly, my examiner had been flying for 43 years but he was easy to talk to so I wasn't nervous much. We then took a half hour break before going for the flight test.

I actually wasn't that nervous for the flight test I'm not really sure why but it definitely helped my flight test for sure. We did the navigating portion, then the diversion, went to the practice area and did the upper air work and then went back to St Andrews to do two circuits and then we were done! I did everything right and with the exception of a few mistakes that were minor I passed. The examiner was pleased with my flying and told me he had no questions about flying with me and that I was a safe pilot.

After completing this endeavour I certainly think all the time, money and late nights studying was worth it. As not many people can say they can fly a plane! Flying is something that is fun every single time I go up and it's definitely something I can see myself doing for a living in any capacity. The feeling of being in control of an aircraft and operating a complex piece of machinery is awesome.

And nailing the landing is even better knowing you got the plane down safely! With that, I can officially say the words I've wanted to say for a long long time, I am officially a pilot! I realize though that this is just the beginning and I have a lot more to learn as I go on further in my training. I only have 103 hours which is a lot but I cannot get complacent or arrogant. I have to stay humble and keep learning. I have to realized that each flight is a lesson you can learn something from and to just keep flying safe!"